American Idol 2014 hopeful Briston Maroney is another one of our still in high school contestants this season, but he’s been plying the musician trade for a while. Briston, then 15, initially auditioned for American Idol season 13 on the “Audition Bus” when it came to Knoxville, TN back in August, 2013.
Season 13 Audition
Road to Hollywood
Band Facebook
Twitter 2
Band YouTube
Fan Page
Road to Hollywood:
Background:
Briston Maroney skipped part of his school day to pursue his dreams by showing up to audition for the American Idol bus. He told Knoxville.com he would apologize to his teachers for missing class, “but it wouldn’t be completely sincere right now.”
A fan of season 11 winner Phillip Phillips, Briston takes his music “seriously,” according to the website. He already has an EP titled Amory and several other songs available for download through The Electric Fetus or Waterloo Records. When he was the second person at the Knoxville bus auditions to move on to sing for the American Idol judges, Briston said it was “incredible” and he was “really flattered that they would choose me.”
In addition to playing out solo, Briston is also a member of the band Subtle Clutch in Knoxville, TN with Eli Fox, Devin Badgett, and Jonathan Bailey. They have one song called “Railroad” currently out on iTunes. The band has apparently garnered some positive buzz in town, and even prompted one blogger at InsideofKnoxville.com to write a whole piece on them after randomly hearing them play in a park. The blogger said he heard them playing, and then ran back home to grab his camera to photograph them. Someone else captured the moment on video as well.
According to the site, Subtle Clutch came around as the result of an assignment at the Episcopal School of Knoville. One of the band members, Eli Fox, chose to study the history of the banjo of part of the project, and decided to plan a benefit concert for the WDVX radio station. He and his friends got together to raise money, and a “band was born.” The blogger said their music was “a blend of styles” with elements of bluegrass and folk music.
We’re not sure why Briston (going under the full name of Briston Lee Maroney) has decided to list his hometown on his personal Facebook page as Saskatoon, Saskatchewan or say he’s from Whistler, Canada. Perhaps he’s just joking around, or trying to keep folks from sniffing out his page… but he has a very distinctive look, so it’s not that easy to hide away! Maybe he was born in Canada, but we know he’s currently going to school, and apparently working, in Tennessee.
In addition to attending a Catholic school, Briston says on Facebook he start working at “Neature [sic] Walk Guided Tours of Ober Gatlinburg” as “Assistant to the Regional Manager” in 1981. Since Briston obviously isn’t old enough for that to be true, and has misspelled “Nature” for some reason, we don’t know what that is about either.
Briston has already followed several of his fellow American Idol 2014 hopefuls on Facebook, including C. J. Harris and Alex Preston. He’s also fond of such musicians as Humble Pie, Flaming Lips, Jamiroquai, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Among his other likes are movies like Eagle vs Shark, Juno, Edward Scissorhands, and Full Metal Jacket; TV shows like Pokemon, Adventure Time, and Freaks and Geeks. His taste in literature ranges from Salem’s Lot by Stephen King to The Bible. His list of inspiration people includes Calivin and Hobbes, Nelson Mandela, and Ed Helms.
According to his profile, Briston is a member of a pre-med group, so he may be planning on going into medicine if this whole music thing doesn’t work. He’s also apparently a sports fan and athlete, as he seems to be into baseball, soccer, and apparently plays football as well.
Hands off though ladies, because Briston also seems to be happily hooked up with a lovely girl named Laura who is constantly talking with him via Twitter. He has two of those, by the way, here’s his other “official” new Twitter account. Briston and Laura also have some very cute photos together on Instagram, but the account has now been set to private. You can check out the band’s Instagram account here though.